When God saw all he had created, he called it “very good”. Our world is wonderful, but in lots of ways it’s become spoilt and broken.
Here at All Saints we recognise that we have a call from God to care for his wonderful creation. We also know that we are facing a global crisis because of climate change and declining biodiversity, a crisis that is destroying creation and the lives of those who depend on it. This is seriously affecting many our global neighbours today leading to famine, drought, floods and mass migration.
For more detailed information see Caring for God’s Creation (C4GC) Purpose document for further details and theological underpinning.
Why, as Christians, should we care for Creation?
Ruth Bushyager (Bishop of Horsham) gives six clear and concise reasons why creation care is an integral part of our faith.
- Scripture instructs us to
- Creation reveals the creator
- It is part of the story of salvation – part of a holistic redemption…
- It is part of Jesus’ command to love our neighbour…
- Creation care is a justice issue – God hates injustice
- It is part of our mission and our witness
What have we done so far?
Eco Church Award
We have completed the A Rocha Eco Church Survey and received our Bronze Award! The survey covers areas such as buildings, the churchyard, lifestyle & community, worship & teaching and global engagement. We are making progress in all these areas and have made some significant changes. For instance, we now use LED lightbulbs throughout the buildings, our older toilets have been adapted to use less water, we recycle or re-use whenever possible. See below for other areas where we have aimed to make the church more sustainable. We soon hope to achieve a Silver Award. Further details can be found at https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk
A churchyard that encourages Biodiversity
The gardening team have done an amazing job in maintaining the churchyard whilst encouraging a variety of wildlife and diversity of living things. A planned grass cutting scheme has been agreed with the local authority to encourage a wide variety of plants. Bird boxes, a compost heap and water butt have been installed as part of a programme to manage the churchyard in a sustainable way.
Stopping the use of ‘Oasis’ in flower arranging
Oasis (a green foam type material) has been ‘go-to’ material for flower arrangers for decades as it makes fixing flowers really easy. However, each block is made of millions of tiny plastic particles which are very likely to find their way into the environment when disposed of, not breaking down for hundreds of years. So, our flower arranging team have abandoned the use of oasis and have developed a range of ingenious methods for fixing the brilliant arrangements that they produce week by week.
We have moved from disposable cups to reusable cups
For a number of years we have used disposable cups which have a negative environmental effect in terms of energy used in recycling and materials used to make each new cup. After consultation with the coffee teams and exploration of alternatives it was decided to purchase reusable cups. At the same time we are encouraging people to bring their own cups to save washing up. We are very grateful to the coffee teams for making this transition possible.
Fairtrade church
By using products with the FAIRTRADE mark, we can be sure that farmers and workers are receiving a fair price as well as money to significantly improve their communities. A unique feature of FAIRTRADE is the FAIRTRADE premium. It is an additional sum of money paid on top of the FAIRTRADE minimum price that farmers and workers receive. It is invested in social, environmental and economic development projects to improve their businesses and their communities.
“The fields of the poor may produce abundant food but injustice sweeps it away” Proverbs 13:23
All Saints sharing scheme
Have you ever been in the situation where you need a few extra chairs for a family gathering or need a special spade for digging a post hole? A platform for sharing ‘stuff’ has been set up so new items don’t need to bought thus saving the earth’s precious resources……. As well as supporting one another. If you want to join the scheme a Facebook page has been set up for members of All Saints:
Share Stuff @ ASL
Visiting speakers
A variety of speakers have visited All Saints both on Sunday and at other times to reinforce our need to care for God’s wonderful creation. These include Bishop Ruth Bushyager who worked for the government on the COP talks and Ruth Valerio an internationally known Christian climate scientist. See below for some of their talks.
Annual focus on Caring for God's Creation
Every year around harvest time, either a Sunday service or the Wednesday evening prayer meeting is devoted to aspects of care for God’s creation.
Support for Tearfund
As a church All Saints supports Tearfund both financially and through regular prayer breakfasts. Tearfund is a Christian charity which partners with churches in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries. They tackle poverty and injustice through sustainable development, by responding to disasters and challenging injustice. They believe an end to extreme poverty is possible. A significant part of their work in the Church and Community Transformation programme involves working to alleviate the worst effects of climate change in some of the poorest parts of the world.
For more information about what Tearfund is doing to address the climate crisis see:
https://www.tearfund.org/about-us/what-we-do/environment-and-climate
For more information about Church and Community Transformation see:
https://www.tearfund.org/about-us/annual-report/church-and-community-transformation
How can you get involved?
We know that crises in the climate and diminishing biodiversity can feel overwhelming, but we believe that lots of small steps can create big change. When we come together as a church family and act as one, the difference can be huge! Below are some great resources you can access to start or continue your journey of caring for God’s creation.
Learn about creation care from some of the world’s most eminent Christian scientists and theologians in a series of 12 short videos.
Lausanne Movement Creation Care Global Classroom
Christianity & Climate Change:
A series of 9 short videos by Katharine Hayhoe – a leading Christian climate scientist
- Take the ‘Creation Care Survey’ for your household (Link) and make significant changes to your lifestyle.
- Join the gardening team looking after our churchyard and encouraging biodiversity.
- Join the C4GC team! Contact Sarah Newnham for details.
- Add your voice to campaigns to further the cause of climate justice – see ‘Christian Climate action’ (Link);
- Support community projects (see below).
Community links
All Saints members are involved with the following local initiatives:
Further resources
Harvest 2023
For our Harvest 2023 service Hugh Bourne preached on “Why Creation groans”
Harvest 2022
For our Harvest 2022 weekend (24-25th September) we focused on the theme of Creation and particularly looking at Climate Change and the work of Tearfund around the world.
- The church family were encouraged to take on the Tearfund Climate Challenge.
- Steve Nichols preached on the theme of Creation
- Richard Painter & Sarah Newnham shared an update from the C4GC group.
Previous Talks
Playlist
An interview and talk by Ruth Bushyager, Bishop of Horsham, at All Saints Lindfield – Sunday 11th July, 2021.
A webinar with Ruth Bushyager, Bishop of Horsham, to launch Creation Care UK.
Listen again to this talk by Dr. Ruth Valerio from Tuesday 2nd February at 8pm.
Unfortunately we had to postpone Ruth’s visit to All Saints, however you can watch below a similar talk given by Ruth at St. Paul’s Cathedral earlier this year.
What does the Lausanne Movement have to say about Creation Care?
With a rich history spanning over five decades, the Lausanne Movement has been at the forefront of global mission. The movement was initiated by Billy Graham and John Stott. In its website’s Global Classroom there is a set of 12 short videos presented by leading Christian teachers and thinkers in this area. In its introduction to the videos it says: ‘This Classroom episode is on Creation Care, a critically important aspect for the global church and mission. Stewardship of God’s creation (creation care) is a clear biblical command and an integral part of what it means to follow Jesus as Lord.’ The teaching in these videos is clear, concise and wide-ranging. If you do nothing else about creation care, watch these videos!
'Jesus Died to Save the Planet’ – A longer read from the LICC
An excellent longer read which explores the truth that God reconciles…. ‘All things, including us humans. But not just us. All things.’
https://licc.org.uk/resources/jesus-died-to-save-the-planet/
A Rocha
A Rocha UK is a Christian charity working to protect and restore the natural world and committed to equipping Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environment. There is a wealth of information of information and ideas for action on their website, including the Eco Church programme (see below). It is well worth having a look: https://arocha.org.uk/
LICC – London Institute for Contemporary Christianity
The LICC exists to inspire Christians to be fruitful disciples in the modern world whoever we are and wherever we are. It also addresses many of the issues that face us today, including climate change.
https://licc.org.uk/resources/living-out-hope-in-a-changing-climate
Contact
For further information, contact the C4GC Team via the church office.
